Attachment - Research cases studies

Attachment - Research cases studies

1. Maccoby (1980): *Seeking Proximity - 2 people wish to be close together. *Distress on separation - infant will show distress signals on separation of caregiver. *Joy on reunion - baby will cling to attachment figure when they come back. *General orientation - baby and caregiver will give attention to each other

2. Lorenz (1935): he divided a number of fertile eggs randomly into 2 groups. Half were placed under the care of their mother. However the others were kept in an incubator. Findings: the goslings formed rapid attachment to Lorenz and would follow him around. They each were seeking their mother". Conclusion: This information of rapid attachment is called "imprinting". Imprinting takes place between 13 to 16 hours.

3. Schaffer and Emerson (1964): They looked at the gradual development of babies in Glasgow. They collected data on attachment by considering 2 types of behaviour. 2 types of behaviour: 1) Separation anxiety if the baby showed anxiety or distress when their mother left them. Stranger distress -if the baby shows signs of distress when approached by someone they didn't know. Findings: hey found that attachment behaviours were loosing linked with age. After the babies would make their first attachment then they would make multiple attachments

4. Harlow (1959): monkeys were raised in isolation. There were 2 surrogate mother. One was a wire mesh which had a feeding bottle attached to it. While the other was a wire mesh that had a soft cloth on it. Findings: the monkeys spent more time with the cloth surrogate and only using the feeding bottle only when they are hungry. The monkeys grew up in emotional disturbance.

5. Bowlby's theory (1951)- we have evolved a need for an attachment to the main caregiver which is their biological mother. Our main attachment we form is called a Monotropy bond. This is based on survival as a primary caregiver to provide: food, warmth and protection. Having monotrpy bond allows us to have a safe base which is formed when we can explore. This relationship then allows us to have a template on all our future relationships.

6. Ainsworth ans Bell (1970): 100 middle class American infants and their mothers took part. observers would look at the behaviour of the infants during predetermined activities. Observers looked at the following: *Separation axiety *Infant's orientation *Stranger anxiety *reunion behaviour. Findings: Type B - 66%, Type A - 22%, Type C - 12%